The invention relates to a device mounted on a spinning preparation machine, e.g. a carding machine, draw frame or the like, for guiding and compressing a sliver bundle consisting of at least one sliver. The device comprises at least two funnel-shaped guide elements, arranged one behind the other, which have a plurality of successively arranged wall surfaces along which the sliver bundle glides and is concentrated, wherein at least one wall area is provided between the input opening and the output opening in which the sliver bundle comes in contact with the outside air through an opening.
A known device mounted on a carding machine has two funnel-shaped guide elements, arranged successively between a web-guiding element and a web trumpet, wherein the one funnel-shaped guide element that is facing downward is opened completely in the wall region while the other funnel-shaped guide element that is facing upward is completely open in the wall region. The two guide elements are each formed by three wall elements, two of which are facing each other. Approximately at a right angle to this, the two opposite-arranged wall surfaces are connected respectively on one side with a third wall surface, whereas the other, opposite arranged side, is designed as a through opening, meaning the guide element is open toward one side. The two opposite arranged wall surfaces of the guide elements are --seen one behind the other --aligned parallel to each other. The wall surfaces of the web trumpet are closed on all sides. The problem with this device is that inside each guide element, the fiber material compression and the air escaping the fiber material as a result of the compression are not symmetrical. The compression and the escaping air are also not symmetrical in relation to the two guide elements.